NiYO Solutions Inc., an emerging fintech startup for salaried employees, has raised $13.2 million [85 crore] in Series A funding to drive the continued expansion of its payroll and benefits platform in India. The investment was made by Social Capital, JS Capital LLC [the family office of Jonathan Soros], and Horizons Ventures with participation by existing investor, Prime Venture Partners. In total, the company has raised more than $14 million in venture capital. Adding on to its continued growth and popularity among businesses across India, NiYO aims to serve 5000 organizations and over 1 million salaried employees by the end of 2018.
NiYO was launched in July 2016 as a pilot in Bengaluru and has already clocked more than 500 corporates and is being used by over 100,000 salaried employees in these organisations, through its partnerships with YES Bank and DCB Bank. NiYO is a one-stop solution for all employee payouts; it’s solutions include salary accounts, meal cards, canteen solutions, corporate gift card, reimbursements account, international travel card and corporate credit cards.
With this fresh funding, NiYO plans to strengthen and expand its product suite for the salaried segment besides taking the product to tier 2 and 3 towns. The funding will also be used for further product development, team expansion and increasing presence in tier 1 cities. The addressable market is close to 75 million salaried employees in India who can benefit through a simple payroll & benefits solution which can increase the take home salaries and simplify financial planning & other banking needs.
Employee Payroll in India and around the world has traditionally seen very little innovation in the past several decades with banks hardly providing any differentiation to customers. This, coupled with inefficient, paper-driven processes mean that most employers and employees fail to take advantage of tax exemptions and other savings that the law provides for. Same holds true for investment and lending products for salaried class where the power of payroll is largely ignored in product design.
NiYO believes that it’s cutting edge technology and processes can combine the erstwhile unconnected worlds of Human Resources and Financial Services. The future is mobile and with support for disruptive platforms such as Aadhaar and the Unified Payment Interface [UPI], NiYO will enable its customers to simplify and control their banking, taxation & finance needs. All this while ensuring a transparent, compliant & efficient process for employers. NiYO has also filed multiple product & process patents in this space.
NiYO comprises of a corporate portal for salary disbursal, payroll card to receive salary and spend on ATM/POS/Online and a mobile app to track transactions and do basic banking functions like fund transfer etc. With eKYC and self-onboarding enabled on the NiYO app, users can easily access their account details and keep a tab on their expenditures and allowances digitally. It also has a capability to attach bill proof through mobile and also allow digital storage of bill and receipts on the cloud.
The mobile app allows employees to review all card transactions as well as check balances in real time. While it helps the organizations to digitize the benefits and payroll process and be more compliant and transparent, it also provides employees a unique experience of a single card for all requirements. The solution does not require either the corporate or the employee to change bank accounts.
Vinay Bagri, CEO & Co-founder, NiYO, said
These are exciting times at NiYO. We deeply believe that the rapidly growing number of salaried employees in India have not seen much innovation when it comes to their own payroll and benefits. They are mobile and app-savvy and very demanding. At NiYO, our core objective is to maximize employees’ effective salary by bringing innovations in payroll and benefits processes. Our aim is to optimize the product suite for employees in areas of taxation, lending and wealth. We have been fortunate to partner with JS Capital, Social Capital, Horizon Ventures and Prime – all of whom are top tier investors with deep fintech and operational expertise to take us to the next level.
Arjun Sethi, Partner, Social Capital, said
NiYO is digitizing the entire employee payroll and benefits value chain, making the process easier and more transparent for employers and employees alike. This is an area that hasn’t seen much innovation in the Indian technology ecosystem, despite the massive addressable market. We believe that India is on the brink of unprecedented consumer consumption, and that movement begins with infrastructure that manages people’s earnings in a reliable and modern way.
Sanjay Swamy, Managing Partner, Prime Venture Partners, said
NiYO’s strong growth since its inception is testament to both the innovative nature as well as rapid customer adoption of their solution which addresses a massive opportunity – providing effortless and innovative solution to manage payroll and benefits, powered by mobile. The combination of SmartPhone penetration and IndiaStack makes the timing right for NiYO’s patent-pending innovations to come to market. We are privileged to be associated with this stellar team from the start of their journey and be part of their vision to disrupt the payroll landscape.
About NiYO
Founded in 2015 by Vinay Bagri and Virender Bisht, NiYO’s mission is to increase cash flow for all salaried individuals by leveraging technology in areas of payroll & benefits. NiYo features an integrated solution comprising of a Multi-Pocket Card, a Mobile App and a digital account with multiple wallets.
Vinay has spent more than 18 years working with diverse organisations like Parle, 3M, ICICI Bank, SCB, ING and Kotak Mahindra Bank. He combines deep understanding of distribution and retail banking having spent over a decade in leadership roles across unsecured lending, retail liabilities, corporate salary and retail banking strategy.
Virender is a seasoned technology professional with 16 years of experience in creating world-class software products for companies like MobiKwik, Makemytrip (MMYT), StudyPlaces.com, Exponential Inc, GE Medical Systems and Tata Consultancy Services. Virender is a hands-on technologist and has a reputation for building scalable solutions for e-commerce and payments domain. For more information, please visit NiYO